In Scotland, we’re offering what people are really asking for

There are just seventeen days to go until Scots vote in the independence referendum, and many people are already voting by post. Two years of work is about to culminate in two weeks of all out campaigning for every last vote. And in these two weeks, the Labour Party will be spelling out again our vision for the future of Scotland.

I’ve been involved in Scottish politics for forty years, but this isn’t like any campaign I’ve ever taken part in before. And that’s because the stakes are so high. If I thought an independent Scotland would improve the lives of people across our country, I’d be campaigning for it. But I know it won’t.

Alex Salmond and the SNP have campaigned for independence for eighty years. For them, the next seventeen days offers the chance to achieve what they’ve wanted for all of their political lives. Of course they’re going to say and do anything to get there.

That’s why, in the next two weeks, we in the Labour Party can’t afford to be complacent. The SNP are trying to win over Labour voters, and we have to be out there fighting for every last one. We’ve seen in elections before what can happen if we’re complacent. The people of Scotland rightly expect a lot from the Labour Party, and in the next two weeks we have to show them that we mean business.

This referendum has led the SNP and their supporters into some very strange places – saying and doing anything to get what they want. The height of this came earlier this year, when Nicola Sturgeon used her entire speech at her party’s conference to address Labour members and supporters. “Vote yes to reclaim the Labour Party”, she said.

No one should believe them. Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have spent their lives campaigning against the Labour Party. Even after eighteen years of Tory rule, in 1997, with Labour committed to establishing a Scottish Parliament, guaranteeing a minimum wage and increasing funding for the NHS, the SNP fought for every last vote against Labour candidates for one reason – independence.

No matter what party was on the ballot paper, and no matter what policies were on offer, throughout the SNP’s history, achieving independence has always come before every other objective. They’ve put that before everything else, even when the Scottish people were telling them they didn’t want what they were offering.

That’s why Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond have spent so much of this campaign talking about the Labour Party. Because they know that Labour values, and the Labour Party, still matters to people across Scotland.

During this campaign, I’ve been concentrating my efforts on Labour’s historic heartlands. And I’ve heard the same thing on doorsteps, in town hall meetings and on the street. People want change. They’re sick of the Tories. And they want more control over the decisions that affect their lives.

I can understand why some people might think that voting yes offers them the chance to escape the Tories. But with experts saying that Scotland would start its life with a bigger deficit than the UK, any future Scottish Government would have to make cuts that would surpass the Tories, or significantly raise taxes to make up the difference.

I’m in the business of changing people’s lives, not offering them false hope. That’s why I get so angry when Alex Salmond and the Nationalists dismiss legitimate questions about the currency and our economy. These aren’t debating points – this is about people’s lives.

In the closing days of this campaign we’re going to be talking about how being part of the UK, with a strong Scottish Parliament, gives people across Scotland the best deal. And this week you’ll hear Labour figures from Scotland, and across the UK, say exactly how we’ll help change people’s lives.

Whether it’s freezing energy prices, bringing back the 50p tax rate or taxing bankers’ bonuses to pay for jobs for our young people, we’re offering what people are really asking for. Real change in their lives that will make a difference.

And change that the SNP has consistently opposed – siding with the Tories on energy prices, refusing to be tough on bankers’ bonuses, and opposing the 50p tax rate.

We’ve got the positive case, but we’ll also keep asking the questions that matter. Because this is, ultimately, about people’s jobs, how much they pay for their mortgages and the effect on their cost of living. Alex Salmond wants to dismiss these questions because he knows how important they are.

In the closing days of this referendum campaign, Scottish Labour will be doing what we always do. We’ll be saying what matters to ordinary working people across the country. And we’ll be focussing on the bread and butter issues that people talk about at work and around the kitchen table.

Alex Salmond can carry on dismissing the real concerns that we’re raising from the people of Scotland, and promising jam tomorrow. We will be giving people hope for the future, a plan that we know we can deliver, and a reason to vote no with pride.

Margaret Curran is the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland